Kaylie Searight SPED 442 April 4, 2017

Service Observation

I observed speech therapy at Creek View Elementary in College Station ISD. The

classroom was pretty small, but set up in a way that was beneficial for the students. The speech

therapist has one wall full of shelves and content. The other side had a giant tv that was set up to

be a computer and then on the other side there was a round table where she sat with a white

board behind it. This is where the instruction takes place. This setup has the students focused on

the teacher and the lesson. It’s also helpful for the teacher to be in front of the whiteboard so she

can turn around and use it without having to waste time getting up and walking. In regards to

student placement, the therapist had the students in preferential seating. Two students that

usually are distracted by each other’s behavior were not sitting next to each other. Having the

students sitting this way increased their ability to stay focused on task at hand.

There were four students that were in being instructed when I observed. All four of these

students have different needs. These needs include language, specifically saying has/have,

articulation with l and s, sentence fluency and speaking smoothly, and language with pronouns

and verb tense. Each of the students were in the 3rd grade. All but 3 students were speech only

and the last one receives services for an intellectual disability.

The therapist set up a game called “Hopping Frogs”. She did not use the cards that went

along with it, just the activity part of the game that made it interesting for the students. She

incorporated picture cards that told a story in with the game. She asked each student a different

question that was geared towards each of the students’ needs. Once they answered the question,

they would hop the frog across the pond. For example, when she worked with the student who

struggled with language and using have and has, she would ask the student what was going on in

the picture. The student would respond and the therapist said “does she have apples or does she
Kaylie Searight SPED 442 April 4, 2017

has apples?”. She would repeat the same procedure, but also use are or is and them or they. With

the student who had difficulty with sentence fluency, she would tell the student to take a breath

before and then to hit a bump or stretch a word in the middle of the sentence. She drew a line that

looked like a bell curve for the student to follow. When she worked with the student who had

trouble with l and s articulation, she would ask the same questions but then make sure the student

said the words correctly.

I thought this observation was very helpful. I saw a great use of questioning and

differentiating. The most unique thing I saw was how the teacher had four different types of

students, but used the same activity but modified it accordingly to each student. The therapist

clearly knew the needs of each student and made sure that her lesson was appropriate the

individual student. It was coordinated very well and the students benefited from the activity. In

the future, I could use the differentiation that this therapist used. I could include using the same

activity for the students, but taking the time to plan in accordingly for each of my students. This

type of lesson is very inclusive and encourages peer interactions.